Saw the other day at the www.inq7.net that there was another crash of the OV-10 Bronco of the PAF. The first one happened in March, 2001 where Bacoleña 1Lt Mary Grace Baloyo, St. Scholastica's Academy batch '91 was killed when the OV-10 where she was the pilot-in-command crashed in Pampanga.

It should be noted that both pilots who perished in OV-10 crashes were sitted in the front (the OV-10 being a tandem configuration). Ejection procedures on a tandem aircraft dictate that the pilot at the rear eject first. If the pilot at the front would eject first, the pilot at the rear could suffer injuries due to the exhaust gasses of the rocket propellant of the ejection seat.

Could it be that the front ejection seats of both OV-10s malfunctioned? IMHO, both pilots would have thought of ejecting after putting their ill-fated aircraft on a course that would avoid injuries or deaths on the ground.

In both crashes, there was no loss of life on the ground. I do believe that this was no accident and it is a matter of honor for our pilots to make sure no one is hurt if they have to ditch their planes. They'd rather be killed themselves before they let the plane fall on someone's house. I salute them for that.

Yep, they have ejection seats. What I found strange was that both pilots-in-command weren't able to eject. What would be an interesting part of the investigation is to see if the ejection lever was deployed by the pilot. Then you will know if there was an effort from the pilot to eject and if the ejection seat failed.

OV-10s are very tough airplanes. With proper care and maintenance they could go long ways. If I'm correct, Thailand still uses them.

Originally posted by horge Until the PAF spends money on airframe x-ray capability, for the
vital sake of certifying airworthiness, those old rattletraps are
going to keep falling out of the sky:

It may not have been an engine problem: as that OV-10 would have
'graduated' from an upgrade via Marsh Aviation's airscrew kit,
a program that IIRC includes engine certification.

Right on the money, Horge! Airframes should not be inspected just visually, but also with X-rays. I bet the Bronco has had several upgrades, just like the UH-1H that had their powerplants changed to higher-output engines.

In California there's a huge number of dedicated fire control & suppression planes (whole West Coast, actually). The new hot-rod spotter plane is the OV-10 Bronco. They were shooting touch & goes at an old airfield 20 Km from my son's school several months ago. They flew low & slow over the school so the kids could see them (painted red & white with CDF emblems) clearly. One of the aircrew has a son that goes to the same school.

That is a HUGE airplane by civilian standards, and very fast. The pilots love them (I chatted with the dad the next day). They feel the OV-10 is going to be a great improvement over the piston engined 0-2 (Cessna 336/7 Mixmaster) they're supplementing. The loiter time (time over target) is outstanding, the high altitude performance (>4000 M) is great, and the visibility is great.

I can see investing in the airframe with inspections and rebuilds. The big new kid on the block for suppression is the C-130A/C, and the OV-10's are a perfect complement to that.

Sorry to hear about the loss of the aircrews on your Broncos. That's a bad day anywhere.

Thanks, Briantf! Almost any aircraft that's properly maintained would serve its purpose and get the job done. Things usually happen bad when maintenance is neglected.

I've seen the specs of the Bronco, and it's one tough aircraft. It's very good in counter-insurgency since it could loiter at a specific place for a long time, fly low and slow, and be configured from a COIN aircraft to a reconaissance aircraft, to an air ambulance, and a troop carrier that could carry, I believe, three to five combat-ready soldiers.

The undercarriage is so tough that it could land in very rough airstrips. The Bronco, being a high-wing aircraft is easy to refuel, re-arm, and the propellers not prone to foreign object damage.

That's why Thailand is still using the OV-10 because the aircraft is very effective in their terrain.